PlantaeDB Logo
Login Sign-up

Genus Enterolobium in Subfamily Caesalpinioideae

In botanical taxonomy, a genus (plural genera) is a rank used to group closely related species within a family. In the hierarchy, genus sits below family and above species.

Genera are defined by shared morphological, anatomical, and genetic characteristics (for example, features of flowers, fruits, seeds, or leaves) that indicate a close evolutionary relationship among the species they contain.

Each genus can include one or more species. Examples include Rosa (roses) and Solanum (nightshades, including tomato and eggplant).

Do you wish to read more about plant taxonomy? Click here!

Genus Description

Suggest a correction!

Enterolobium is a mimosoid legume in Fabaceae (subfamily Caesalpinioideae sensu LPWG, 2017), with about 12 accepted species (POWO, 2024). The genus occurs from Mexico through Central America to northern South America, and south to Argentina and Uruguay; it is most diverse in seasonal dry forests of the Brazilian Cerrado and Chaco and in lowland seasonally flooded “varzea” habitats along Amazonian rivers, often near water (Rico Arce & Sousa Sánchez, 2007). The type species is Mimosa cyclocarpa Griseb., now Enterolobium cyclocarpum (Burkart, 1952).

Plants are trees with bipinnate leaves bearing stipular spines in many taxa, conspicuous domatia in some species, and an indumentum of simple hairs. Inflorescences are capitate to shortly racemose with numerous small, whitish flowers; calyx is tubular, the corolla forms a narrow tube with exserted, free filaments united at the base, and the single carpel is superior with several ovules in a marginal placenta. Pods are distinctive—strongly curved or contorted, often thick-walled and indehiscent, with seeds embedded in a mealy pulp; species of varzea habitats produce floating pods, reflecting hydrochory (Lewis et al., 2005; Rico Arce & Sousa Sánchez, 2007). This combination of large, spiral pods and polyandrous, mimosoid flowers separates Enterolobium from most other mimosoid genera in the Neotropics.

Species richness centers on Brazil (especially the Cerrado) and Paraguay, with regional endemics such as E. timbouva in Brazil and E. gilii in northeastern Argentina (Rico Arce & Sousa Sánchez, 2007). Typical habitats span dry woodlands and savannas up to c. 1500 m, plus riverine floodplains; several species are adapted to pronounced dry seasons.

Pollination is entomophilous; attractive floral odor and abundant nectar characterize many mimosoid flowers. Dispersal is primarily by water in varzea species and by large vertebrates attracted to the pulp in dry-forest taxa, while some species become aggressive weeds in disturbed sites (Rico Arce & Sousa Sánchez, 2007). Chromosome numbers of n=13 for E. contortisiliquum and n=26 for E. cyclocarpum indicate polyploidy within the genus, but a universally accepted base number has not been firmly established across the group (Goldblatt & Johnson, 2003).

Historically, Enterolobium has been subdivided (e.g., “subg. Enterolobium” and “subg. Pachylobium”), but modern treatments emphasize recognition of Enterolobium as a coherent clade within the mimosoid grade (Rico Arce & Sousa Sánchez, 2007; Barneby & Grimes, 1996). Phylogenetic work has clarified its relationship to genera such as Chloroleucon and Stryphnodendron, supporting retention of Enterolobium as distinct from broader, once-synonymized mimosoid assemblages (Luckow et al., 2003; Lewis et al., 2005). Some species historically placed in Chloroleucon (e.g., C. manglare) are often regarded as members of Enterolobium by certain authors (Barneby & Grimes, 1996), reflecting unresolved taxonomic boundaries that require reconciliation across data sources.

Human relevance is practical rather than medicinal. E. cyclocarpum provides valuable timber (“ear pod”), is widely planted in agroforestry and shade, and its pods are used as animal feed; E. timbouva supplies fine timber (Lewis et al., 2005; Rico Arce & Sousa Sánchez, 2007). Several taxa are robust pioneers that can naturalize rapidly near cultivation. Conservation concerns remain unevenly documented; many species lack precise threat assessments and distribution data, highlighting the need for targeted floristic and phylogenetic research across South American dry and floodplain systems.

Pick a Species to see its components: